Live Review Holland – Scotland 3-0

Well, not really live. But live for me, at least . I have successfully managed to not learn the final score!

I’m going to watch this match and give you remarks on what I see. Unless the match is so fast and exciting, I forget. In that case, I probably won’t post this. In which case, you won’t read this. And I didn’t have to type this… I’m getting confused…

Let’s start with the line up of Oranje. The first images tell me Ooijer and Sneijder both play. Will Robben be benched? Was that the big decision Bert had to make? Robben snowed under against Liverpool, against physical challenges… But he is the man in form, so…

52.000 fans in the stands. Some 7.000 Tartan soldiers there.

No, I see the line up now. My predicted line up is the right one. Robben plays. Sneijder benched!

The Dutch play in Orange, and play from left to right . (God, I need a life…).

Interesting to see Vaart and Sneijder benched. Some national team managers would be salivating…

We’re off. The Scots sit back. The Scots allow Ooijer to do the build up. Any other player is immediately pressured. Hmm…good defending by Robben. Backtracking into his own box. Something new .

Scotland successfully disrupts the build up by Oranje. Van der Wiel demonstrates his typical Ajax cojones going forward. We may have solved our right back issue with this lad.

6th minute: a little break on the left with a crushed effort from outside the box by Hunter

It appears the pitch is letting us down. Ball seems to bounce weird every now and then and some players lose their footing…

We seem to be wanting to penetrate through the center too much. Van Persie and Hunter aren’t reached and Kuyt is everywhere bar the right flank.

10″ dash by Robben into the box, but the pass wasn’t good enough.

11″ Half a chance for Van Persie after a Robben cross.

11″ Wonderful sliding tackle by Mathijsen on a Scottish break. Superb! No corner. No penalty.

12″ First corner kick for the Scots. A bit of lazy defending by Gio. Nothing came out of it.

16″ Another corner kick for the Bravehearts. Sloppy defending again.

17″ Robben breaks out after some sloppy defending, he sees the goalie too far in front of his goal and tries to lob, but mishits the ball. Good effort.

The Scots gain some confidence and push up a bit. Which allows more space for Holland.

18″ Late tackle by De Jong. Rightfully yellow-carded. De Jong can’t complain… Free kick Scots.

Nothing came from it and Robben earns a free kick to restore some rest.

20 Minutes played and Holland can’t find their rhythm yet. Robben is the danger man, with a run through the middle. He’s axed down, but the ref didn’t want to see it. The replay shows it, a tackle from behind on Robben’s ankles.

23″ Free kick for the Scots, due to a late Van Bommel tackle. De Jong and Bommel can’t seem to direct the play from the back and Oranje can’t seem to string enough passes together.

25″ The Scots are successful in keeping the filed tight and stopping Oranje from playing their fave game. Holland tries hard, but the Scots do everything right to stop us.

27″ Super cross in by Van Persie from the right, narrowly missed by Hunter in the box.

28″ Excellent cross in by Robben from the left this time, well defended by the Scots.

30″ Deep pass by Van Bommel. The first Robben touch on the left was pure brilliance, allowing him to penetrate into the box, blocked by the goalie. First corner Holland. Defended by Scotland.

30″ And there it is: 1-0!! Klaas Jan Huntelaar. He can’t stop himself… Wonderful pass by Van Bommel. Curved in to the far post and both Van Persie and Hunter are unmarked. Diagonally headed in to the far post. 12th goal in 20 games for KJH!

What will the Scots do now? Losing 1-0 won’t help. Will they take the game to Holland now?

33″ Van Persie on the left flank, with a cross. Earning a corner kick.

Corner doesn’t amount to anything.

Fascinating to see Van Persie, Kuyt and Robben switching sides. Robben to me is the man of the match till now. He’s making the play, doing the runs, giving the crosses. I almost thought we’d need him to score too, but Huntelaar can be invisible for 89 minutes, to score in that single minute left.

The goal rejuvenated Oranje and Scotland doesn’t get more than two touches before an orange jersey chips in.

35″ Van der Vaart and Sneijder commence their warm up. My guess: Kuyt might be rested during half time. Van Persie is limping a bit, so…

37″ Van Bommel free kick, but much too low… Too many free kicks and corners taken just not good enough. Against the Scots, you can get away with it, but against bigger teams this type of play isn’t good enough. Great to hear those bagpipes.

39″ Good efforts by Arjen Robben, a distant strike by Gio and after that a three-pointer (Rugby rules) by Van der Wiel.

The Scots work hard and with the 1-0 on the board, they are always capable of creating something. A stray ball, a mistake, a corner kick…you never know. Oranje needs a second goal.

I’d say we need more control on midfield, up front. Van Persie, Kuyt and Robben are typical “runners” with the ball. We need at least one player who can hold on to the ball and give the through-pass. Maybe those three up front midfielders are a bit too much the same in their style. Sneijder or Vaart will have an impact in the second half, I’m convinced.

By the way: if our opponents in the series keep on threatening us like the Scots, it doesn’t matter who will be on goal, really. Stekel hasn’t had a lot to do. Feyenoord’s second goalie 40 year old Rob van Dijk can do this too.

First half analysis:

Oranje played decent. Scotland allowed Oranje to dominate, but we didn’t create a lot. The only chance was Hunter’s goal, really. Apart from some efforts by Robben. The latter is the danger man. Van Persie had some flashes of brilliance. But only some. Or one maybe. We didn’t give a lot away which is good. But we should score a quick second in the second half to put this game away and save some energy for the Macedonia game.

45″ Late corner thanks to Kuyt’s work. And it’s 2-0!!!! Robin van Persie heads the ball in simply on that tremendous Robben corner. Pitch perfect ball. A sitter! Kuyt blocks the goalie, but the Scottish defenders didn’t seem to want to defend this ball. A howler. Great corner kick and a training goal for Oranje. Game over…

I wouldn’t be surprised if Bert will make some changes. Sneijder will come in, I’d say. And depending on the little pains and knocks, we could see more changes. Schaars might make his return for De Jong or Van Bommel, depending on a potential suspension (De Jong) or some physical problems with Van Bommel (not the youngest anymore). I can imagine Robben being subbed, spared for the Macedonia game.

Second half will start now. Will we see another 6-0? Or can Scotland come back to 2-2?? Nah…

47″ Huntelaar injured. Received an elbow in the neck. Not the type of guy to milk these situations (his dad wouldn’t have that). Holland started the second half well.

49″ Good run by van der Wiel, cross too strong to Robben. Gio’s attempt blocked.

50″ Van Persie walking the ball into the box. Robben picks up and allows Kuyt a shot at goal. Close call, but it’s a corner. Which results in naught.

52″ And sometimes things do go your way. Scots enter the Dutch box, but the cross is blocked and goes over the line after a last touch by the Scot.

54″ Free Kick Oranje. Kuyt heads it back in but the ball passes the line.

55″ Ouch. Some clumsy defending by Oranje results in a Scottish corner kick. Focus boys! Some disarray in the box. Was that a handball? Ref didn’t see it. Stekel has the ball and Oranje can breathe again.

56″ Kuyt receives a knock and stays down.

58″ Oranje playing possession now. Controlling the game. There’s no rush clearly and the most exciting view in the last minutes is Sneijder’s warm up routine.

60″ Wonderful distance effort from Robben. He demonstrated he wanted to dance the moments before and his precision shot with the inside left foot was stopped by the goalie. Huntelaar got a opportunity to shoot as well, but should have passed…

62″ Good play by Kuyt on the right, trying to tee up Van Persie. Oranje pushed up again. Number three is lurking… The Scots have lost their confidence and Barry Ferguson is nowhere to be seen…

64″ Clash of heads, Van Persie still on the grass. Berra – the other headbutter – walks again. I assume Van Persie will be subbed and Sneijder will come on. Yep.

66″ Van der Wiel almost tees up Sneijder at spot kick position, but a Scottish leg avoids that.

67″ Dangerous cross in by Robben at the near post. I expect at least one more goal. Sneijder?

69″ Tremendous chance for Robben! Van der Wiel crosses in – again – Huntelaar flicks it on to the far post and Robben mishits it. And is annoyed. Another attempt by Robben, thwarted.

Van der Wiel plays like a right winger. He could show even more guts. Defensively he hasn’t been tested, but none of the defenders have. It’s cruisin’ time for Clockwork Orange, really. We need more goals though, while the Scots bring a fresh body.

72″ Free kick Scotland. but nothing materializes.

74″ A third replacement for the Scots. And a corner kick as well. The Tartan Army cheers. Disallowed goal by the Scots but I really wonder why. Seen it a couple of times now, but can’t see anything wrong.

75″ Kuyt’s break stopped by the defense. Oranje has snoozed off again, it seems. Unruly passing, hasty decisions.

76″ Beautiful break by Sneijder. Pass on Huntelaar. The latter does it smart and Berra tackles the man, not the ball. Dirk Kuyt is the man to take this penalty.

77″ Dirk Kuyt penalty kick: 3-0!!!! Berra’s challenge earlier on in the Dutch box was stopped by the ref, the Scottish goals disallowed. A minute later he chops Hunter’s legs off and Kuyt puts the ball decisively away. Interesting why Dirk took the penalty and not Huntelaar…

79″ Stijn Schaars will make his 8th appearance for Holland. But, first striker Huntelaar receives a yellow card after a silly challenge at midfield. Hunter comes off and Affelay replaces him. Nigel de Jong makes place for Schaars. No Van der Vaart in other words… Kuyt will play center striker.

81″ Free kick for the Scots results in a stray shot at goal, three meters off target.

83″ Stijn Schaars demonstrates his vision and passing finding Van Bronckhorst in the box. Dirk Kuyt’s attempt blocked.

86″ Third replacement for the Scots.

87″ Good run into the box by Robben, should have finished it but gets a corner for the effort.

88″ Affelay defending on the left back position.

92″ YES. An actual save by Stekelenburg!

94″ And it’s GAME OVER

A steady win for Oranje. Never did they have to fire on all cylinders, it seems. Of course, Scotland missed 8 regulars, but the quality difference between the teams is just too big. Scotland is now at 8 points.

Three goals, two yellows and hopefully no real serious injuries.

We’ll focus on Macedonia now. Another three points will mean a virtual ticket to South Africa!!

Hup Holland Hup